Typhoon Festival 2016

Typhoon Festival 2016

Yellow Earth is celebrating 21 years of theatre making with a new edition of our acclaimed international playreading festival Typhoon to be presented at Soho Theatre and Rich Mix 2-6 March 2016.

Typhoon will present dynamic, bold and exciting plays by East Asian writers from the UK and across the world. From young love in the Chinese community of 1960s Jamaica to a troublesome dolphin in present day Japan via disembodied minds and censored states, Typhoon 2016 will take you on a unique journey into the minds and imaginations of some of the best of today’s East Asian playwrights.

DATE

EVENT

VENUE

Wed 2 March 3pm

Summer RollsBy Tuyen Do (UK) Directed by Kim Pearce
It’s 1989 and the Nguyen family have sought safety and security in a new home in Essex far from their beloved war torn Vietnam. But for each of them ‘home’ has a different meaning. The wounds suffered take many forms and over 25 years the family struggle to learn how best to heal them.After the reading: Audience Q&A with writer Tuyen Do

Jamaica BoyBy Stephen Hoo (UK) Directed by Topher Campbell
Travelling from 1960s Jamaica to present day London Jamaica Boy is a raucous and touching story of love, memory and displacement. Community service brings Christian to Ophelia’s allotment and a battle of wills begins as Christian learns to accept his identity.After the reading: Audience Q&A with writer Stephen Ho

Belongingby Francis Turnly (Ireland) Directed by Jennifer Tan
Three gaijin (foreigners) find themselves adrift in Tokyo’s underworld. Class and culture collide as East meets West in a search for security, redemption and a place to belong.After the reading: Writer Francis Turnly in conversation with Nic Wass, dramaturg at the Tricycle Theatre.

Red Flamboyantby Don Nguyen (USA) Directed by Kumiko Mendl
Unlikely heroes emerge both in this world and the next as Mrs. Hue confronts bureaucracy and prejudice in an attempt to survive. The spirit and dreams of four Vietnamese women take them on a journey beyond the reality of their everyday life.After the reading: Shorttalk from the Amazin Le Thi foundation about the work of the Pham Thi Hue charity in Vietnam

The Biteby Atsuto Suzuki (Japan) Directed by Franko Figueiredo
A couple face the dilemma of what to do with their pet dolphin who appears to have escaped his tank and grown a pair of legs! Japanese kitsch and dolphin are the flavour of the day with this satirical comedy of gourmet food obsessions.After the reading: Audience Q&A with writer Atsuto Suzuki

Cogitoby Huzir Sulaiman (Singapore) Directed by Ng Choon Ping
Twenty years from now two women grieve for the same husband. With shared experiences and memories a battle for identity ensues: who is the real Katherine Lee? The consequences of neuroscience and computing are explored in this compelling story of love and loss.

Purple CloudBy Jessica Huang (USA) Directed by Mei Ann Teo
‘When you’re Hapa, you know deep down you’re greater than the sum of your many parts’. Three generations of Huangs must deal with their multiracial identities as they embark on a mythical journey from China to America and back again.After the reading: Director Mei Ann Teo on Asian American work in the US (TBC)

The Shape of a BirdBy Jean Tay (Singapore) Directed by Vik Sivalingham
In a country that has decreed only a single story is allowed, an imprisoned writer writes imaginary stories for her daughter. But when truth is suppressed and fiction and the real world begin to collide, she’s forced to choose between her stories and her own daughter as her two worlds spin dangerously out of control.

Tickets for Typhoon East at Rich Mix£7 per play booked in advance (No concessions)
£10 per play on the doorDay Pass £12 for two plays on the same dayWeekend Pass £25 Admits to all 6 plays at Rich Mix

Tickets for Typhoon West at Soho TheatreTickets £5 (£3 concessions)

The plays for Typhoon were chosen by our Readers Panel from over 40 submissions to an open callout for proposals. Many thanks to them for doing so much reading. It’s great to see the wide range of subjects that writers are tackling; not only identity and cultural belonging, but questions of censorship, stigma, love and loss. We selected plays that we felt represent our company values. They are all imaginatively brave and acknowledge that, although we may come from many different places culturally and geographically, we are all connected by what it is to be human.